How to Write About Suicide and Self-Harm

The UK Society of Authors recently published a new factsheet on writing about suicide and self-harm, and I wanted to highlight it and draw attention to its main lessons. Stories are powerful, and writers consequently bear a heavy responsibility for getting it right and not doing harm, especially when it comes to writing about topics like suicide and self-harm.

About 6,000 people die by suicide in the UK every year, and the World Health Organisation estimates that, worldwide, there are about 20 suicide attempts for every death by suicide.

Research has shown that depictions of suicide in literature and other media can lead to increased suicide rates through a phenomenon known as social contagion. It began as far back as Goethe, whose 1774 novel The Sorrows of Young Werther led to a series of imitational suicides in Germany, and it continues to this day. On the other hand, stories that show characters overcoming a suicidal crisis can have a protective effect.

So this guidance from the Society of Authors, published in collaboration with the Samaritans, is very important. And, even if you’re not a writer, some of the points are useful so that you know how to talk about suicide in a better way.

Here’s a quick summary in case you don’t want to click through.

Don’t Romanticise Suicide

Giving characters a “reward” after a suicide death or attempt can give some readers the idea that they can solve their problems through suicide. Try not to show a character achieving freedom or release through suicide, or having other characters see the error of their ways following a suicide attempt.

Be Careful About Describing Suicide Methods

Try not to make suicide sound easy, quick, and pain-free, which it usually isn’t. Nor is a suicide attempt something that can be quickly recovered from. Don’t give highly specific details of the methods used—you don’t want to inadvertently provide a manual.

Be Aware of the Language You Use

Some of these surprised me. I’d never thought there was anything wrong with the phrase “commit suicide”, but I now see that it gives the idea that suicide is a crime.

And, when you think about it, describing a suicide attempt as “unsuccessful” when the person lives and “successful” when they die is pretty messed up. But I’d never thought about it before.

Here are some other language recommendations: